Life as a Family
by Mona Mari
Summary: What life would have been like if William and Shelby had a family. Characters based on my other story.
1. Chapter 1

**A new story I'm trying out. Hope you guys like it. Don't worry I will be updating on my other story _What Could Have Been _as well. It's just life got in the way. PLEASE Review, I need to know how it is. Thanks and Enjoy! (PS. Christopher is Finn) **

* * *

"Hey baby…" my boyfriend Will whispers into my ear as he gently hugs me from behind, while I'm taking off my earrings in my dressing room after the show.

"Hey!" I say twirling around, wrap my arms around his neck as he holds my waist, and proceed to kiss him deeply.

Will and I both just graduated from college and were casted in the play Les Miserables; our big break! Will and I both grew up in Lima, Ohio, even though we curiously didn't know one another before college, and we both had big dreams to be on Broadway; eventually we made our way to New York City, went to college, and met when we were casted. I play Cosette and he plays Marius, and every night we get to share our passion for theatrics with the world. However, tonight was our last show and the cast is going to dinner to celebrate, even though I'm sad to see the show end. Tomorrow, I will just be Shelby Corcoran: struggling actress.

Although, I am determined to enjoy tonight; the restaurant is filed with random chattering between people, amazing fragrances emerging from the kitchen, and music playing softly in the background. The night goes on as predicted, when suddenly Will stands clinking his glass with a table knife. The room slowly grows silent as curious and anxious people stare at Will in confusion.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Will begins, "These past few years, after my high-school sweetheart Terry decided we should go our separate ways, I honestly did not think I would love again, well that is, until I met Shelby." He says turning to me and looking to my flushed face, "Shelby, you have taught me how to love again. I love you so much baby and I can't live without you." Will says when suddenly he reaches into his pocket and gets down on one knee and I gasp.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" he asks. At that point my heart was beating a million times a minute; I looked into his beautiful, calming, green eyes and took a deep breath.

"Yes!" I said. He flashed his thousand-watt grin at me and slipped the beautiful engagement band on my finger; I leaped into his arms and he held me, when I looked over and saw my family greeting us with excited smiles. My mother, father, older brother Joey and my older sister Anne, walked over and we all rejoiced together as a family.

Three years later, July 2nd, 1993, Will held me in bed and kissed my forehead as I started to stir and opened my eyes to see his mesmerizing face. He smiled at me and kissed my lips ever so softly and sweetly.

"Good Morning Beautiful." He said with a smile.

"Happy Anniversary baby," I respond with an excited squeal and sat up against the headboard. When I suddenly didn't feel right; my stomach started to churn, my head began to spin and in seconds I felt like I was going to vomit all over our bed. I quickly raced to the bathroom, barley making it, and emptied my stomach of all its bearings. Will stood over me, holding my hair behind my head, and stared at me with confusion and concern. Once I was presentable again, I looked at him, "I'm pregnant….Surprise!" I said with a guilty smile.

On August 12th, 1994, I gave birth to perfect twin boys; my little Christopher James and Noah John Schuester; Christopher was born with Will's fair skin, my dark hair, and Will's mellow attitude, while Noah was born with my father's Mediterranean skin, my dark hair, and my Jewish nose. They are completely different boys; Finn is calm and Noah is loud, Finn is obedient and Noah does his own thing, etc. However, they are my babies and I adore them.

Two years later, I was once again surprised with another pregnancy; On December 18th, 1996 I gave birth to my little girl Rachel Barbara. We named her Rachel because at the time I would watch a television show_ Friends _while I was pregnant and Will liked the name Rachel; we chose Barbara because basically I am a Barbara Streisand worshipper. Rachel is me in a baby form; she has all my features, my skin tone, my Jewish nose, my slightly wavy, dark hair, and my strong personality.

Will and I decided that we were done having kids because we had our boys and our little girl, what more could we ask for? However, one day that I forgot to take my pill, and well…Little Sarah was conceived. On May 7th 1997, Sarah Grace was born by an emergency C-section because of complications at only 7 months; Sarah was born so tiny, only 3 pounds and gave us quite a scare. Though, like Rachel, Puck, and I, she was a little fighter and three weeks later we introduced her to our hectic home. My little curly top! Sarah was born with Will's adorable light brown, curly hair, big brown eyes like mine, light skin, and Will's beautiful smile. She's our little bubbly, loud, talkative baby, even though she is small for her age.

After the scare with Sarah, I couldn't think about having another baby and having that child have to deal with the problems Sarah has with her breathing and slow development; therefore, I got a hysterectomy and was proud because the family Will and I had created.

* * *

Sitting under a small umbrella, Saturday morning, Will, Rachel, Sarah, and I watched the boys in action in their soccer game. My little boys were five now and growing up very quickly. Will had the very excited, energetic, Rachel on his lap as she commented on everything that was going on in the game; while, I rocked the very sleepy, cranky, two-year-old who hated to wake-up early.

"Did you see that daddy?" Rachel exclaimed turning toward the boys, whipping her braid in his face, causing me to suppress a laugh.

"Rachel, settle down." Will warned, when Rachel grew restless just sitting around with all her energy. She wiggled off his lap and ran around the sidelines, playing by herself. At the sound of her sister's excited screams, Sarah began to whimper in my chest.

As she ran past me, I quickly grasped Rachel's arm with my free hand and stood her before me, "Rachel, you need to settle down. I am trying to watch your brothers play and trying to get your sister to sleep, you are making this very difficult; now either sit with daddy or play quietly, understand?" She slowly nodded her head and walked off to play.

During the second half, we did our best not to scream at every goal the boys made because finally got Sarah to sleep; but in this family, silence is too good to be true. When suddenly, everyone heard a sharp shriek come from the soccer field; a piercing cry I knew too well. There in the middle of the field lay a small brunette, holding her face, and crying ever so dramatically as the referee blew the whistle indicating a time-out. I then quickly passed my sleeping curly top to my husband, and made a dash to my little trouble-maker.

"Geez Rachel! You always have to ruin everything!" An angry Noah sighed making his way towards her and Christopher shoved him.

"She's only three. She doesn't know any better." Christopher defended, when I scooped Rachel up and carried her out of the field and the boys followed.

"Mom, Is Rachel in trouble?" Christopher asked.

"Is she going to get a spanking?" Noah smirked. I suddenly felt overwhelmed, I was trying to get Rachel to stop crying, the boys kept following me and asking me questions, and I didn't want Sarah wake up. I felt like I was about to scream myself.

"No," I said turning to them as Rachel whimpered, "shhh" I cooed in Rachel's ear, "Boys go play." They obliged and ran towards their team. I stood Rachel before me and kneeled down at her eye level. She was still in tears and holding her face.

"Baby what happened?" I said tucking some of her loose hair into her braid.

"I…wanted….to…play…too. I…went… over…there…,"She whimpered, pointing to the boys who just resumed the game, "Then a big…boy… kicked the soccer ball and it hit my face." She said on the verge of tears.

"Shh," I said inspecting my daughter's swelling cheek that began forming a bruise, "You are going to be okay… shh…" I then scooped her up; she wrapped her little legs around my waist, and rested her head on my shoulder as I made my way to Will.

"Is she okay?" Will asked standing up and slowly rocking Sarah from side to side in an attempt to keep her from waking up, which failed because Sarah suddenly began to stir at the sounds of her sister's cries.

"I'm going to take the girls home," Will nodded and we carried the girls out to the car. By the time I was driving home, I had two screaming toddlers in the car.

"Rachel, stop crying honey. Sarah, go back to sleep." I said frantically glancing from the road to the mirror to see her girls both crying. Rachel holding a frozen water bottle that Will gave her to her face and Sarah with her arms extended toward me and violently pushing herself forward against the seatbelt, begging for me to carry her.

"Mama! Up! Up!" Sarah cried in between sobs, "Mommy! Up!"

"Shhh… Sarah be a good girl for Mommy and go back to sleep, we will be home in 5 minutes." I said.

After 2 exhausting hours of balancing my time between two demanding toddlers, I finally got both girls down for a much needed mid-morning nap, and laid on the living room couch trying to enjoy mine; when they front door flew open with two boys running past me with McDonald's toys in their hand miming a war scene, jumping up and down on the couches, and shooting at one another with rubber darts.

"Boys!" I quietly hissed causing them to jump up and land on their bottoms on the couch, and Will slowly dragging himself through the front door.

"Chris, Noah, be quiet. Your mother is exhausted, as am I, and we need you to go upstairs, take a bath, and take nap for about 20 minutes please." Will said glancing at the obvious bags forming under my eyes and offered me a sympathetic smile. The boys groaned, but slowly patted up the stairs; we stayed still until we heard the water running. Then Will lifted my upper body, sat down, laid my head on his lap, and ran his fingers through my hair.

"Rough morning huh?" he smiled down at me, when I turned and gave him an incredulous look.

"You think?" I groaned, turning my head, and burying my face into his knees. He chuckled and slowly kneaded his fingers into my shoulders as a let a grateful moan escape my lips.

"When does school start again?" I mumbled.

"August 14th."

"And what day is today?"

"June 1st" Will laughed, as I lightheartedly grumbled and he planted a light kiss on the top of my head.

* * *

**OKay thats Chapter 1. Love it? Hate It?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay Chapter 2. Hope you guys like it!**

* * *

Feeling something brush my lips, my eyes suddenly fluttered open, only to see a sea of green staring back into my eyes.

"Hey, go back to sleep," Will whispered brushing a few strands of hair out of my face and standing up to his normal height.

"What time is it?" I mumbled, leaning against the headboard, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"7 am"

"Where are you going?" I yawned, noticing he was in slacks and a fitted black shirt.

"I have an early morning rehearsal remember?" Will smiled taking my hands into his.

"Aww… Couldn't they just rehearse without you?" I pouted, rubbing soft circles on his palm with my thumb.

"I'm not sure they can rehearse without the lead, now could they?" he laughed and kissed my frown away, "I know you miss performing baby."

"Sometimes I do, but these kids need me and they mean more to me than any performance."

"I know. Hey, I've got to go okay." He said glancing down at his watch and gave me a parting kiss. "Good luck with the crazies today."

"Thanks, I'm going to need it." I called as he left the room. Looking at the clock, the bright green numbers blinked 7:11; I groaned and pushed myself under the covers once again, Rachel and Christopher should be up any minute now. Sometimes I wonder how it is humanly possible for a child to wake up before 8:30; growing up I always had to be pulled out of bed by force if I had to wake up before 9am.

However, like clock-work, at 7:20 I heard my door slowly creak open, revealing a two small figures peeking into my room; without even opening my eyes I pulled the comforter back, revealing a space for the children to take residence. The two little figures swiftly ran towards me, jumped into bed, snuggled right into my chest, and wrapped their little arms around my waist. Absentmindedly combing my fingers through their hair, I realized it was Christopher and Noah clinging on to me.

"Mommy?" Christopher quietly said into my chest.

"Yes baby?"

"Where's daddy?" Noah asked pulling away from me and propping his head up with his elbow to face me.

"He went to work."

"Again?" they whined, showing their disappointment.

"Yes again." I mimicked, ruffling their hair, "But don't worry, he will be home for dinner"

"Okay…"

"Where is everybody?" I asked changing the subject; Christopher and Noah, out of all the kids, were the ones most attached to Will and often tried to spend all of his spare time with his daddy.

"Well, Puck is right here…" Christopher began, but stopped when he saw my bewildered expression, "What?" he asked confused.

"Puck? Who is Puck?"

"Noah."

"Me." Noah said lifting his arm, like he would in school if the teacher were to call on him.

"Why did you call him Puck?" I asked Christopher.

"Joey gave us nicknames." Noah replied, referring to their 16-year-old cousin who has been spending the week with us.

"Oh he did, did he?"

"Yeah. He started calling me, Puck, because I am ALWAYS talking about hockey; and that Puck sounded like a name for a real tough guy."Noah explained. Ever since we signed Noah up to play on a hockey team last season, he started watching hockey games on television with Joey and Joey always referred to his as "the tough guy".

"Makes sense," I grinned, "What about you? What is your nickname?"

"Finn." Christopher stated, proudly beaming.

"Finn, why Finn?"

"Because when we were in the pool yesterday, Joey said I'm the fastest swimmer he's ever seen! Then he said that "Fishy" was a stupid nickname and wasn't cool enough, so we decided Finn was pretty cool. So that's my nickname." He concluded. I beamed, Noah and Chris look up to Joey and I always find it amusing how whenever Joey says something is "cool" they automatically believe it is only because Joey said it was.

"Well back to my original question, is everyone awake or just you?"

"Like I said, Joey is still asleep, I'm sure Sarah is still in her room, and I saw Rachel's door open, but she wasn't in her room." Christopher said.

"Rachel isn't in her room?" I questioned, abruptly sitting up. When Rachel is quiet, is when she is definitely doing something she shouldn't be doing.

"No."

"No." Christopher and Noah said, sitting up with puzzled expressions.

"Oh no." I said under my breath, quickly slipping my slippers, and darting next door to find Rachel's room empty.

* * *

"Rachel? Rachel? Rachel?" I whispered peering into every room, until I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen with the boys in tow. As I rounded the corner, I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand when I saw the carton of milk lying horizontally with milk slowly dripping to the floor, but all the rest of its contents pooled on the floor, a box of cheerios on the floor with cheerios scattered everywhere, a stool standing against the cabinets, one of the cabinets closet to the floor was left open, and kiddie plates, bowls, and cups laying on the floor. I then reached the living room was when I spotted the culprit red handed. Rachel was sitting on the couch with a bowl of cheerios in her lap, wearing only bright blue underwear, watching Saturday morning cartoons. As soon as she saw me with my hands on my hips, she gave me a sheepish smile, put the cereal bowl on the coffee table, stood on the couch, and had the audacity to lift her arms up in an attempt to get me to carry her.

"Ooooooooooooo" Chris said.

"Rachel you're in big trouble." Noah smirked.

"Boys, can you please quietly go up to your room and do something silently?" I said as calmly as I could.

"Okay Mommy." Christopher said,

"But…I wanted to see Rachel get her spanking!" Noah whined.

"Noah…please, not today."

"Fine." He huffed and they padded upstairs.

"Rachel Barbara Schuester, get your little behind over her now." I chastised, pointing down to the floor before me. She then pouted and slowly made her way over to me, she looked up at me with teary eyes and her bottom lip quivered. "First of all, why are you in only your underwear?" I asked inspecting my four-year-old's little body that was drenched in what I can assume was spilled milk.

"It was hot in my room, I didn't want to wear my pajamas anymore." She stammered looking down at the floor.

"Rachel, you made a huge mess in the kitchen with clean dishes that are now dirty, milk and cheerios spilled everywhere, and I gave you a bath last night and between then and now you managed to get yourself dirty." I said crossly.

"I sorry Mommy." Was all she could say before she burst into tears. I sighed and lifted my daughter, walked into the downstairs bathroom, sat her on the toilet seat, and left the water running so I could give her a quick bath.

"You stay put so Mommy can clean up the kitchen." I said walking out of the bathroom.

By 8:45, I finally got the kitchen cleaned; Rachel bathed and wrapped in a towel, and headed upstairs into the bedroom the girls shared. I place Rachel on the bed and changed her into play clothes, brushed her damp hair, but let her bangs fall in front of her face; when I heard a familiar wheeze and soft coughing sound coming from the bed behind me. Oh no I thought as I looked over my shoulder and saw my baby huddled in a ball under the covers, and then turning my attention back to Rachel. I picked her up, laid her on the bed, and pulled a thin sheet under her chin and tucked her in.

"Rachel, you are to stay in bed and take a nap; you know what you did is wrong and you need to be in time-out for a little while." I explained.

"No! Mommy, I will be good. I promise." Rachel whined kicking her blanket aside; I sighed and wrapped her back up in her blanket.

"No. You need to go to stay in bed for a little while, no playing, or getting out of bed, understood?" I said sternly and she nodded. I then swiftly turned back to Sarah and pulled her sheet back, revealing her sweaty, shivering body; I placed my hand on her forehead and felt her burning up, she then began to wheeze, having difficulty breathing.

"Sarah? Baby wake up." I said pulling the entire blanket off of her and softly nudging her to wake up. Her eyes flew open and awoke with a gasp; she began wheezing, gasping for air. Not again I thought, as I quickly picked her up and rushed her into my bedroom. I sat her up, propped against the headboard, and made a dash into our en suite bathroom. I pulled out the box that held Sarah's Compressor Nebulizer System out from under the sink, pulled out the medicine from the medicine cabinet, dropped the medicine into the mask, hurriedly made my way over to the bed, plugged the electrical cord into the outlet, placed the oxygen mask on Sarah's face and securing the elastic band behind her head, and turned the machine on. A minute later, I finally saw Sarah's panic breathing slow down to a slow and steady rise and fall of her chest; I exhaled the breath I did not realize that I was holding and leaned my head against the wall.

When Sarah was about a year and a half, she was diagnosed with asthma, after she had a cold for a good week. She couldn't breathe at all and almost went unconscious a few times in the ER; her oxygen level was about 73 and gave us quite a scare. The doctor informed us that because she was a premature baby, there was a high chance of her having a disability, and that now they discovered she has asthma in her right lung and has a weak immune system. Now to this day every time she becomes ill or does difficult exercise, she will have an asthma attack.

I looked down at my poor baby, oh how I hated seeing her like this. She was looking at me with weak eyes, her skin pale, and she held her chest. I gradually climbed into bed and held her in my arms, stroking her matted hair, kissing her forehead. "Sarah, you are such a good girl," I whispered into her ear, "Such a brave little girl and I'm so proud of you." I then let a tear escape from the corner of my eye and run down my cheek; she slowly raised her hand up to my face, gently wiped the tear away, and gave me a weak smile through her oxygen mask.

"I okay Mommy. Me a big girl. I strong memember, you say so." She smiled and carefully leaned into my embrace. I kissed her head and smiled.

"Yeah, you are my little fighter." I whispered before she fell asleep.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it. Please review. I need feedback.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all the reviews and alerts! Sorry I've taken forever to update. I have so many ideas and I have no idea where to start. Well Please Read and Review. Enjoy!**

* * *

Hearing my name announced, the music blaring loudly as I walk around the corner, I see the audience on their feet, clapping, and screaming as they receive me. I then see my friend, her long brunette hair draped over her shoulders, her warm brown eyes sparkle as she greets me with a smile, and laughing, I hug her and we sit next to eat other at the table when the excitement dies down.

"Shelby! You look beautiful! You can't even tell you had four kids. How are you?"

"Aww thank you Sandra. I'm doing great actually with everything going on, you know." I smiled.

"Well as we all know, you are going to be hitting the stage again after two years. Tell us a little bit about that."

"Yeah, yeah, this October I will be on stage again playing Maureen Johnson _again_ in Rent on Broadway. I'm a little scared though because I haven't been on stage in over two years!"

"You? Shelby Corcoran? Scared? I don't believe it." She joked, "Not that you are not entitled to a break, but why did you take two years off?"

"Well around this time three years ago, I had just given birth to my youngest, Sarah, and she wasn't doing too well. Not only was she born 2 month premature, she has respiratory problems. Though I tried for a year to leave the kids with a nanny while I was on stage, but I would constantly have to be called home because Sarah or Rachel was sick, or the boys were misbehaving; my understudy was on stage more than I was. Rachel was also only one year old at the time and the twins were only three, therefore my husband and I decided that it would be a good idea for me to take a break from performing and focus on the kids. Though, now that the twins are starting school and the girls are getting older, I think it would be good for me to go back to work." I explained smiling, as the show played a slide show of my family.

"Oh my goodness, I was looking at those pictures of the kids and they have gotten so big since the last time I saw them!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"I know…I know… My babies are growing up!" I said with a playful pout.

"Do you already see the differences between them? Tell us a little more about them."

"Yeah definitely, they are all so different. Christopher, the oldest, is the mellowest, go with the flow type of kid and is pretty independent; he normally looks out for his brother and sisters but he tries to be in charge when I have my back turned. So I often have to remind him that I am the mom and I will take care of the quarrels and arguments that happen throughout the day. From there we go on to the terrible trio: Noah, Rachel, Sarah. They all have very strong personalities. They are LOUD, independent, and always seem to end up in some kind of mischief. Noah because he is a prankster and wants to be in charge, and Rachel and Sarah because they always needs to get what they wants and go to great lengths to get it. However, Chris and Sarah are obedient most of the time, but Noah and Rachel like to test my patience. Rachel and Sarah also compete for my attention, Noah demand's my husband's, and Christopher is pretty independent."

"Well since you and Will are Broadway legends, do the kids sing, dance, or act?"

"Denfinitely! Well they all sing, but mostly just singing along to musicals or singing in the car to their favorite songs. Chris is actually developing an interest in the drums and Will has been teaching Noah how to play the guitar, so we enrolled the boys in music classes. Chris on the drums, Noah plays guitar, Sarah knows how to play certain keys on the piano being she is only three years old, and Rachel, she LOVES to sing and perform; she even says she will be on Broadway one day as well." I laughed.

"So you guys have a little band forming." She joked.

"Exactly!" I laughed

"Well when you go back to work, how do you think the kids will adjust?"

"That is what I am afraid of. I mean before the kids, I was in Les Miserables, Rent, Wicked, and had various other roles in other shows and I did not think that I would love being a mother as much as I do. I just thought I would have kids and be a normal Broadway mom, with a nanny that would help out, etc. but it is nothing like that. When I am away from them, I feel like there is a part of me missing; so I think I will be the one with the hard time adjusting, not them." I laughed.

"Well that's just how it is being a mom, we got to learn how to let go."

"I guess." I dramtically sighed.

"But… We have a little surprise for you, since your birthday is in a couple days." She said with a mischievous smile.

"Oh really?" I questioned.

"Come on out kids!" was all that was said before Chris, Noah, Rachel, and Sarah all walked out onto the makeshift stage that was set up on the side. They all lined up in front of microphones that were previously adjusted to their heights. The lights dimmed, spotlights shined bright against my little stars, a song began to play, and I smiled wide recognizing the song instantly.

_**Come stop your crying, it'll be alright**_

_**Just take my hand, Hold it Tight**_

_**I will protect you from all around you**_

_**I will be here don't you cry,**_ Finn began locking his eyes with mine and ended with his signature smile.

_**For one so small you seem so strong**_

_**My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm**_

_**This bond between us, can't be broken**_

_**I will be here don't you cry,** _Noah sang as tears began to pool in my eyes.

_**Because you'll be in my heart**_

_**Yes, you will be in my heart**_

_**From this day on, now and forever more,**_

_**You will be in my heart**_

_**No matter what they say**_

_**You'll be here in my heart always,**_ Finn and Noah sang together and looked at me as I dab the tears away and smile at them.

_**Why can't they understand the way we feel?**_

_**They just don't trust, what they can't explain**_

_**I know we're different but, deep inside us**_

_**We're not that different at all,** _Sarah shyly sang.

_**Because you'll be in my heart**_

_**Yes, you'll be in my heart**_

_**From this day on, now and forever more**_ Finn, Noah, and Sarah chorused.

_**Don't listen to them, 'cause what do they know?**_

_**We need each other, to have, to hold**_

_**They'll see in time, I know**_

_**When destiny calls you, you must be strong**_

_**I may not be with you, but you've got to hold on**_

_**They'll see in time, I know, we'll show them together,** _Rachel sang soaking up all the attention and definitely putting on her own performance.

_**/Because you'll be in my heart**_

_**Yes, you will be in my heart**_

_**From this day on, now and forever more,**_

_**You will be in my heart**_

_**No matter what they say**_

_**You'll be here in my heart always/**_

_**Always, I'll be with yo**_

_**I'll be there for you, always, always and always**_

_**/Just look over your shoulder/**_

_**I'll be there, always,** _they chorused together.

"Happy Birthday Mommy!" Rachel exclaimed into her microphone.

"And thanks for being there for us." Noah and Finn said in unison.

"Always." Sarah finished off. The crowd instantly got to their feet and gave them a standing ovation; immediately they all suddenly wore huge smiles and bowed before the audience. I couldn't get myself to stop smiling; _My kids, ladies and gentlemen_.

* * *

**I hope you liked it. Sorry it was kind of boring and short, i will definitely be putting some more drama in the next chapter. If you didn't know that was Phill Collins song You Will Be In My Heart, I absolutely love that song because it is my father's and my song. I will update asap thanks :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you everyone for the reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

* * *

"Mommy!" Rachel screamed running into my dressing room after the show and leapt into my arms, good for me because I was ready to catch her.

"Hey baby," I said lifting her, sitting her on my hips, and with my free hand, adjusting her dress so that it covers her little bottom as I hold her. "You did great during the performance!" I praised her, standing sideways and looking into the mirror; our cheeks pressed against one another and we smiled as we saw our reflection.

"I'm your baby right mama?"

"Of course baby, why would you even ask that?" I asked bewildered by the randomness of my four-year-old's question.

"Because Noah said that I was adopted and the only reason you and daddy even care about me is because my own mom did not even want me." She explained tearing her focus from the mirror and looked into my eyes, cupping my cheeks with her hands.

"Oh my goodness Noah," I said shaking my head, "You my dear are definitely, one hundred percent, my daughter, and William is definitely your father. Noah was just teasing you."

"Okay." She responded kissing my nose and smiling wide, "Where are we going next?"

"We are going home, baby doll."

"No! Let's go to…umm… SONIC!" she excitedly said, slightly bouncing with excitement.

"Honey, you know we only eat fast food on the weekends; Daddy and I are making some yummy grilled chicken and veggies. Doesn't that sound good? Yum!" I explained attempting to coax her into dropping the subject.

"But Mama," she whined causing me to crinkle my nose in disapproval, "You said we did good in our performance, can't we just bend the rules this one time? Please?" she pouted and giving me her wide puppy-dog eyes. _Who could say no to that face?_

"Alright, but just this once," I agreed.

"Yay!" she squealed and wriggled out of my grasp in order to be put down, and begins to do a little dance that all my kids do when they get excited.

"Okay, okay, calm down." I laugh playfully nudging the back of her head, when the door swung open and my husband and children appeared in my room.

"Hey babe," Will said wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing me ever so sweetly.

"Ew!" Rachel exclaimed wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Gross!" Noah said sticking his forefinger in his mouth to emulate gagging.

"Get a room." Chris said.

"Yuck!" Sarah exclaimed. Will and I smiled at their reaction and kissed again only to tease them.

"Okay! Okay! You can stop now!" Rachel stated squeezing her little body between us and pushing Will's stomach to get him away from me, causing me to throw my head back in a belly laugh.

"Okay." Will said holding his hands up in surrender. Then the kids dispersed into the room in order to entertain themselves while I finished getting my things together.

"Babe, you know what I just realized?" I asked, putting my make-up bag in my purse and swinging it over my shoulder.

"What?"

"You just walked in here without even knocking or anything. What if I was changing or something?"

"It's not like, it's nothing I've ever seen before." He shrugged and I playfully slapped his arm. "Come on kids, let's go." He quickly changed the subject, grabbing Noah's hand and carrying Sarah on his hip, and heading out the door; I rolled my eyes and did the same with Chris and Rachel.

"Thanks guys." I thanked our bodyguards who escort us out of the studio.

When the stage door opened, all we could see were a multitude of people with cameras and microphones, shouting for our attention.

"Shelby!"

"William! A Statement!"

"Look Over Here!"

"Rachel!" "Noah!" "Christopher!" "Sarah!" was all we heard repeatedly. Will kept walking ahead of me with a group of bodyguards and I relatively close behind with my own group; I tried to keep a camera ready smile, but I had to make sure Rachel and Chris were okay.

Everyone kept shouting for our attention, and Rachel and Chris were looking in all directions with confusion. _Why were their so many people here? Why did they want to talk to us? How did they know our names? Why can't they just leave us alone?_ Over time, Chris became annoyed with the people, kept his head down, or gave the press irritated looks; while Rachel started to feel overwhelmed and hid her face in my shoulder and began to whimper.

"Shhh… it's okay Rachel. Remember what we discussed before? They just want to take a picture of you because you are a star. Just smile baby and it will all be over soon, okay?" I cooed and she nodded against my shoulder. This was one of the few times the kids were ever spotted by the media and I was afraid they were going to react this way; however, Rachel and Chris are relatively okay with the press and smiled for them, but was one in the afternoon and because of the show they didn't take their naps, which made this a little more difficult.

When we finally made it into our car, the whining began.

"Noah, stop it!"

"No!"

"Mommy!"

"Daddy, where are we going?"

"I'm hungry." Were some of the constant whines we heard as we all sat crammed in the back of the car; Irritated, I rolled my eyes and gave Will a look that said, _Let's just go home _he nodded and gave the driver our new destination.

"Okay quiet!" I said sternly, and the car grew silent, "I want all of you to stop whining and be quiet or take a nap for the rest of the ride home."

"Home? I thought you said we could go to Sonic." Rachel whined.

"Well we aren't going anymore." I replied earning a huff and all four kids glaring at me with their arms crossed over their chests. "I honestly do not care if you are upset. We are not going and that is final."

Once home, Sarah had fallen asleep in the car, therefoer Will just took her upstairs to sleep._ Good, one down… three to go._

"Okay guys, lunch will be ready in 20 minutes so why don't you guys go take your afternoon naps?" I said trying to suppress an amused smile, seeing as all three kids kept yawning and were about to fall asleep anyway.

"Okay Mama." Chris mumbled and slowly dragging his feet up the steps and crashed into Will as he was coming down.

"Oh my goodness," Will gasped, picking a stunned Chris up in a standing position before he fell to the ground, "Sorry buddy, I didn't see you there."

"It's okay daddy." Chris yawned, stepping around his father and padded up the stairs.

"Rachel…Noah…upstairs." I commanded pointing up to their rooms.

"But Mama…" Noah began.

"I'm not tired." Rachel said finishing his sentence as she tried rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Now."

"Come on Puck, it's time for bed." Will said taking our son's hand and leading him upstairs.

"Fine." Noah grumbled, I rolled my eyes at Will when he gave me a smirk; it irritated me how Noah was in this phase where he didn't like to listen to me, but when daddy told him to do something he automatically does it.

"Alright, I guess this just leaves you Miss Rachel."

"No." Rachel crossed her arms and stamped her foot in defiance; my eyes darkened and I leaned down to her eye-level.

"You do not say no to me young lady, now you march your little behind upstairs and take your nap before you are put in time-out. Understand?" Rachel's eyes widened, her arms fell to her sides, and slumped her shoulders in defeat.

"Will you tuck me in at least?" she asked quietly as I returned to my normal stature.

"Absolutely." Taking her hand and leading her upstairs, she comes to a sudden stop in front of my bedroom door.

"Can I sleep in your room?"

"Only if you go to sleep right away."

"Okay." she responded. I lifted her up onto my bed; she climbed under the covers, and sank into the pillows.

"Goodnight honey." I tucked her in, move her bangs out of her face, and kissed her forehead before making my way out of the room.

"Mama?" I sighed and turned to see my daughter with tears already pooling in her eyes.

"Yes Rachel?"

"Will you sleep with me?"

"Rachel, I have to go help daddy with lunch. You need to take your nap, now close your eyes and go to sleep." I said gently, but it was like Rachel did not even hear what I said, and she sat up anyway.

"No. Mama, please stay with me." Rachel's bottom lip quivered and she kept her arms stretched out.

"Rachel…" I began, but finally gave in; I might as well get a nap in too, "Fine." I walked over to the other side and climbed into bed; Rachel immediately curled up against me and whimpered into my chest.

"What's wrong now baby?" I sighed, trying to hide my exasperation.

"You are mad at me." she cried, which caused me to soften and take her into my arms.

"I'm not mad sweetie, Mommy's just tired too." I reassured her, rubbing calming circles on her back, I hummed _You Will Be in My Heart_; after about five minutes, Rachel's breathing evened out and she fell into a deep slumber. I shook my head and chuckled in amusement. _Oh Rachel._

* * *

**LOL! Growing up I used to tell my sister that she was adopted (actually I still do). Please review if you get the chance.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay sorry that i havent updated in a while. I was feeling a little discouraged and wasn't up for writing. May not be my best chapter and after reading over my old story I feel like I should update that one too. Tell me what you think about this chapter. By the way thanks for all the reviews and follows. It means a lot :)**

"Sarah! You aren't doing it right!" Rachel exclaimed in frustration.

"Does it really matter?" I said, rolling my eyes at my sister; Rachel always thinks that it is her job to tell me what to do, how to do things, when to do things, and why to do things, and I hate it.

"Yes! Otherwise your cookie looks stupid." Rachel said matter-of-factly, finishing making cat whiskers on her cookie dough with a fork. My eyes grew wide by the end of her sentence, and without warning I dropped my fork and gave Rachel a look like if she just shot someone.

"Ooooooooooh! you just said stupid."

"So?" Rachel asked.

"I'm telling Mama." I said hopping off my stool and heading out the door, only to have a fork chucked at my head. I spun around and glared at my sister, holding the sore spot with my left hand. "Ow! Rachel that hurt."

"Well, I wouldn't have done that if you weren't going to tell Mama." Rachel crossed her arms.

"I'm still telling," I scoffed, "Especially now that you threw a fork at my head!"

"Oh shut up, it didn't even hurt you." Rachel muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Shut up is a mean phrase, Ra-chel."

"Does it look like I care?"

"Mama!" I yelled getting tired of Rachel thinking she can speak to me in this manner.

"Mommy!" Rachel called.

"What? What is it?" Mama asked wiping her wet hands on my apron, returning from the bathroom.

"Rachel is trying to boss me around…"

"Sarah wasn't decorating the cookies right..."

"And she called me stupid and threw a fork at me head."

"And she doesn't listen Mama!" we said simultaneously speaking over one another, making it hard for Mama to understand what had happened.

"Okay okay… girls I do not have time for this…" she said shaking her head, picking me up and placing me on her hip, "The family will be here in three hours and we have to get this place cleaned up." Taking Rachel's hand we headed upstairs, when we heard the Spongebob theme song blaring from the family room.

"Boys! I…" Mom began her reprimand, when I felt hands fiddling with the strings that tie Mom's apron; the apron fell off her hips, and disappeared behind us.

"Don't worry, I will take care of the kitchen. Just get the girls and yourself ready and I will worry about the rest." Will appeared giving Mama a peck on the cheek and disappeared just as quickly as he appeared.

~.~

"Mama?" I heard a little voice say below me as I finished putting my lipstick on and inspected my face and my hair as my long curls framed my face.

"Yes, sweetheart." I asked, looking down to see Rachel and Sarah in pink matching sundresses.

"Will you please do our hair?" Rachel asked holding out white headbands, a spray bottle, and a comb, and Sarah carrying their step stool.

"I was going to call you girls in anyway." I said taking the stepstool from Sarah and placing it in front of me. "Up we go." I lifted Sarah onto the stool, in order for her to see her reflection. "Alright miss lioness, you need to stay still so Mommy can do your hair right, okay?"

"Yes, Mama." Sarah winced, as I slightly wet her hair with the spray bottle, combed her little honey curls as carefully as I could without hurting her. "Ow! Mama!" Sarah cried.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, one minute okay?" I frowned, seeing the tears pooling in her eyes; this was definitely the worst part of having curly hair. I finished by crunching her hair a bit with my hands and placing the headband right in the middle of her head, so that her curls hugged her face.

"Next!" Sarah hopped off the stool and Rachel stepped on; she smiled at her reflection as I repeated the process of spraying her hair, combing her beautiful straight locks, used the hair-dryer to fix her bangs, and placed the headband right where her bangs began. "Now," I said twirling Rachel around, "Nana, Grandpa, Uncle Sam, Aunt Sandy, and your cousins are coming over; I need you to behave alright? Be calm, be nice, and most importantly be play quiet games until they arrive because I don't need you kids to get all dirty before they arrive."

"Of course Mommy, I'm always calm."

"Sure you are." I said sarcastically.

"Mom? Why are we getting all fancy and why is the family coming over?" Rachel asked, springing off the stool and sitting on my bed, watching me as I made some finishing touches with my curling iron.

"Because it is my birthday tomorrow and everyone wanted to come down to celebrate, and we are dressing up because we are going to church today." I explained smoothing out my dress and kicking the stepstool under the dresser.

"Mom?" Noah and Chris said entering the room in matching white short-sleeve dress shirts, skinny black ties, black skinny jeans, and black converse.

"Daddy gave us these to wear but we have no idea how to keep them on." Chris said, holding out his kippah.

"Come here." I laughed motioning them to step in front of me, fastening them with pins.

"I want one!" Rachel announced pointing to her brothers' kippahs.

"Me too!" Sarah agreed, jumping up and down with excitement.

"You always want to do what I want to do." Rachel whined giving Sarah a look.

"They are only for boys, you are girls so you don't get one anyway." Noah spat.

"Hey." I chastised giving him a warning softly slapped his arm, as I struggled to keep the kippah in place because of all his wiggling.

"Why do we have to wear them anyway, Mama?" Chris asked, tugging at his tie.

"Because all the boys wear them to temple, it's a sign of recognition that God is above you..." I explained, "Chris honey, leave your tie alone it looks great."

"Alright let me take a look at you guys." I said examining all four kids' attire; wiping off smudges on their faces, straightening ties, smoothing out dresses. "You all look gorgeous."

"Like Barbara, right Mommy?" Rachel giggled, striking a pose, and the other three following her suit.

"Even more gorgeous than Barbara." I smirked, knowing that her reaction would be…

"No one is better than Barbara, Mommy." Rachel gasped, Noah and Chris rolled their eyes preparing themselves for a well-known Rachel Ranting session; however, the doorbell rang before Rachel could say another word.

"I'll get it!" Noah exclaimed, zooming out of my room and down the stairs with Chris right on his tail.

"Nana!"

Here we go.

~.~

Making my way downstairs, I saw my Nana and Papa walk through the front door, Mama's brother and sister, Sam and Sandy, their spouses and our cousins in tow.

"BLAINE!" I heard someone squeal behind me, before I knew it Rachel zoomed past me, making me lose my balance and stumble a bit; normally I would have lost my temper, grabbing Rachel by the back of her shirt and knocking her on the ground, but I felt Nana's eyes burning holes into my head.

Blaine, Rachel, Gabriel, and Sarah are really close in age, between 3 and 5, therefore they were always together; then there is Cooper, Finn, Cassandra, Andrea and me, we are all between 6 and 10, we all got along, most of the time.

"Hey Coop!" I said holding my hand up in an attempt for him to give me a high-five, but as usual he turned his nose up at me, sunk back in the couch, and returned is attention to his back to his iPod. Shrugging my shoulder in annoyance, I changed my direction in order to sit next to my brother.

"What's his problem?" I whispered to Finn.

"He's mad because Uncle Sam made him come here, instead of letting him go with his friends." Finn scoffed. Cooper was always such a downer! Being self-centered, he never noticed how much he hurt others because EVERYTHING had to be about him.

"Want to mess with him?" I asked with a mischievous smile, while Finn narrowed his eyes at me.

"You really want to get in trouble before we go to church? Come on bro, Coop is such a baby, he will probably start crying and Mama will get super mad."

"So! He's so annoying and that is kind of sad coming from a 6 year old, seeing as Cooper is 10. Sometimes I wonder how Cassie and Blaine tolerate him."

"But this time it's not just Mama, its Daddy, Uncle Sam, Aunt Sandy, Nana, and Gampa…" Finn began, but stopped talking when I gave him an irritated glare, "Fine."

Smiling, I quickly explained the plan; like lions on the prowl we crawled behind the couch, where we could not be seen. In one swift motion, Finn ripped his kippah off his head, "OW!" he howled cradling the back of his head with free hand, distracting him from his iPod, giving me the opportunity to swipe it from his hands. With a dark chuckle, Finn and I ran out of the living room, past the kitchen, out the back door, and into our tree house.

"NOAH!" we heard Mama's voice boom from down below; Finn's eyes immediately narrowed and he whipped his head toward me.

"I. Told. You." Finn growled.

~.~

What is this place? What is a Messianic Jew? I asked myself as we sat in these LONG benches Mama called a "pew". The building is really tall and looked like those really big Greek buildings we saw in Daddy's old history shows. The huge room had lots of benches and a stage in the front, where lots of weird looking men with long curly hair, beards, and a kippah thingy too. The benches were full of people that looked kind of like us, and all the boys had these little kippahs on, so I don't feel weird anymore, but why were we here? It's Sunday. We are supposed to be home watching weekend morning cartoons, but now we have to be quiet and sit still as we wait for the service to begin; boring. I start to swing my legs back and forth, when a man stood on the stage in front of a microphone, and everyone oddly rises to their feet; except for Finn and me, we get the pleasure of being yanked to our feet by our still very angry mother. The room gets quiet and everybody closes their eyes, while the man in the front starts to mumble some long monologue and the congregation mumbles in response. I try to emulate what Mama is doing, but what is Mama doing? I step back and look behind my mom to see that my brother is already giving me a questioning look and I only respond with a confused shrug because Mama grabbed the back of my head and slightly pushed me forward so that her body was blocking my view of Finn. I looked up only to see her raise her eyebrow in a warning and I slumped my shoulders in defeat.

The room is filled with odd music and two men occasionally blow these long twisted horns and when they do I quickly cover my ears. Everyone seems to know the words, except for Finn and me, Rachel is somehow enjoying the music as she stands next to Daddy, clapping her hands to the music like everyone else in the room, and Sarah somehow managed to fall asleep and is now lying on the pew.

After about a set of 4 songs, the man in front begins to mumble some strange monologue again, but this time there is a lady standing in the front with a basket and her head bowed. After everyone says "Amen" people begin to walk up to the lady, put a hand in, and then take it out. What are they doing? Then I see Mama, Daddy, and Rachel go up to the lady, curiosity got the best of me and I followed; when I reached the woman, she lowered the basket in front of me, showing me that it was full of MONEY. They are just giving away money? I furrowed my brows as she kept gesturing for me to put my hand in the basket.

"Well alright lady, you don't have to tell me twice." I said and reached both hands into the basket and pulled out a huge pile of various bills, and walked back to my seat. However, now all of the people were giving me angry/confused looks as I made my way down the walkway with bills falling to the floor as I struggled to keep them in my grasp. I glanced back at the woman and she looked appalled, but now Mama had her arms crossed and giving me a look of rage and exasperation. She said nothing, but took a firm grasp of my arm, led me to the front, put the money back into the basket, and hurriedly led me out of the room and out to the lobby. Mama looked so angry, even her heals made an angry clicking sound. Although what I do not understand is: What did I do?

**Please R and R. Thank you :)**


End file.
